British Muslim MP Nusrat Ghani, the former transport minister, has been quoted by the Sunday Times newspaper as saying she has been sacked from her ministerial position in Boris Johnson's Conservative government "because of the unease of her colleagues" because she is a "Muslim woman".
Nusrat Ghani, 49, who was dismissed from her post in a limited cabinet reshuffle in February 2020, told the newspaper that an official in charge of party discipline in Parliament told her that her Islam "was raised as an issue at the cabinet reshuffle meeting in Downing Street."
She explained that when she asked why she was being excluded, she was told that being a Muslim "made colleagues feel uncomfortable".
"I will not claim that this has not shaken my faith in the party, and I have at times thought seriously about whether to continue as a member of Parliament," she added.
Ghani said she stopped asking about the matter after she was told that the insistence would lead to "she being ostracized and the destruction of her career and reputation".
There was no immediate response to her comments from Boris Johnson's office, but Chief Party Discipline Officer Mark Spencer said he was the intended target of Nusrat Ghani's allegations.
"These accusations are completely false, and I consider them libel," Spencer said on Twitter.
"I have never used those words attributed to me," he added.
The party official said Ghani refrained from raising the issue in an official internal investigation when she first raised the issue in March.
For his part, the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, said that the Conservative Party should immediately investigate what Ghani said.
The Conservative Party has previously faced accusations of Islamophobia, and a report in May last year criticized the party's handling of complaints of discrimination against Muslims.
The report prompted Johnson to apologize for any offense caused by his earlier statements about Islam, including a newspaper article in which he described veiled women as "roaming around like mailboxes".
Muslim MP Nusrat Ghani's comments come amid calls by lawmakers to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to leave office due to anger over parties held at his Downing Street headquarters during the closure procedures due to the Corona pandemic.
In this context, a Tory MP said he would discuss with police allegations that government officials tried to "blackmail" lawmakers suspected of trying to force Johnson to step down.